


mad about the boy

by professor_moony



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Post Snape's Worst Memory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 05:23:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11844804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professor_moony/pseuds/professor_moony
Summary: It starts with a Charms assignment; it ends with Lily Evans punching him in the jaw sometime past midnight on a rainy Thursday. There’s a lot more than that of course (including, but not limited to, a missing shoe, Angus the Cat and a few stolen copies of Quidditch Weekly.)





	mad about the boy

**Author's Note:**

> This is me combining some old drabbles I found on my phone and trying to make them a coherent story.
> 
> Come talk to me on tumblr @ professormoony!

“Evans has _legs_ ,” Sirius commented as the girl in question came into appearance across the street. They – being Sirius Black and James Potter– were sitting in a Muggle park and both wearing jeans and a t-shirt. James was tugging at the hem of his shirt uncomfortably; as a Pureblood, he was feeling entirely out of his comfort zone in the stiff, denim jeans and was thinking longingly about robes he often took for granted. Sirius pulled off Muggle attire better than James (of course) which was truly unfair as he was not really meant to be there in the first place.

“Good legs,” James said, gloomily. He ran a hand through his messy black hair out of habit. “This is not something I needed to see.”

Neither boy had ever seen Lily in denim shorts before and therefore – though not a revelation – her legs were remarkable nonetheless.

For James this was bad news. He was in the unfortunate process of trying to get over the pretty redhead and meeting up to complete a long and tedious Charms assignments during their summer holidays was clearly going to be counterproductive to his goal if she continued to wear clothes like _that_.

Aforementioned legs were making their way across the park and it was clear, even from a distance, that the girl attached to them was wearing a distasteful expression, her freckled nose scrunched up in dislike.

James lifted a hand and waved at her and he watched as Lily half-heartedly returned the gesture.  

“That’s better than what I was hoping for,” he said, “Eyes off the legs, Padfoot.”

“I’ll try.”

“ _Padfoot._ ”                                                  

“I can’t promise anything,” Sirius said cheerfully as Lily finally came into hearing distance. “’Lo, Evans.”

Lily came to a halt in front of the park table that they’d claimed earlier that morning. She had paired her shorts with a yellow t-shirt and had her hair pulled up in a messy pony tail. She looked very different than the Lily that they saw during the school year, but the distrustful expression on her face was the same.

Of course, Hogwarts Lily and Summer Lily were equally pretty, James thought despondently. He half wished that she was one of those girls that let themselves go and gained twelve pounds during break – although he wasn’t sure if he had a chance of getting over Lily Evans even if she _was_ one of those girls. He really was as pathetic and love-struck as Sirius always accused him of being.

Lily looked at the two of them suspiciously, oblivious to James’ own internal struggles. “Promise what?” She asked, ignoring Sirius’ greeting.

“James told me not to look at your legs.”

James gave Sirius a hateful glare and was very tempted to sock him in the arm but as Lily’s attention was now fully on him he merely avoided her gaze and shrugged.

Lily’s lips twitched into something resembling a grin. James, staring awkwardly at the ground, did not see.  “They’re my legs Potter. I’ll tell who not to look at them.”

“ _Exactly_ , Prongs.”

“Black, don’t look at my legs,” Lily said, poking said boy in the chest. “Otherwise I’ll hex _yours_ off.”

Sirius pouted, clearly put out by the threat. He seemed to realize as well as James had that although he was a good couple of feet taller than the red head, Lily was a formidable opponent on the other end of a wand. Even though they were still sixteen and therefore lawfully prevented from using magic in their summer holidays both boys remembered how Lily had reacted when Arlo Stevens had called her a bitch in their third year – she definitely hadn’t used magic _then_.

So, with his eyes carefully diverted away from her legs, he protested, “What about James?”

Lily quirked her eyebrow. “Potter will look regardless. I’ve given up trying.”

It was a sad truth, but a truth nonetheless, and James shrugged helplessly in her direction. “They’re legs to be stared at, Evans.”

“Sure,” she agreed. “Enough bush-beating. Firstly –“ here she turned an accusing glare to Sirius – “What are you doing here? I don’t remember being paired with both you _and_ Potter in this stupid assignment.”

“Bush-beating?” James repeated. 

“I’m here for the moral support,” Sirius answered innocently.  “And I’ve already finished my Charms assignment – _unlike some people_ – so I thought I could be a useful asset.”

“You’ve finished yours because your partner was Lupin,” Lily retorted, hands on her hips. However, she appeared to accept his reasoning as she turned her attention away from him and immediately to the taller boy by his side. “Potter, I’ve been doing some background reading.

She heaved the backpack that she had been carrying onto the table to punctuate the sentence. It landed with a _thump_ and James’ jaw dropped, his eyes widening with disbelief.

“Merlin, Evans, you’re _mad_ ,” he said. “That must weigh a bloody ton.”

“Yes, well I thought we could start with _Mystifying Reality: Edition 5_ , that has a lengthy chapter about aversion charms in there…” she began to pull out book after book and then, after a minute of scurrying in the backpack pulled out a wad of parchment. “I’ve taken some notes on it already. I’m sure Sirius would be able to help us – you and Remus were doing glamour charms and that’s not so different a concept.”

Unfolding and smoothing out rolls of parchment, Lily missed the panicked look that James and Sirius shared. The latter jerked a thumb over his shoulder – universal symbol for _I am getting out of here_. James narrowed his eyes behind his glasses.

_Don’t you dare_ , he mouthed, but Sirius only gave the backpack one last wary glance before taking a couple of steps away from the table. He shoved his hand into the pocket of his jeans and extracted a packet of cigarettes a second later – a credible alibi for his escape.

“That’s my cue to leave,” he told Lily, giving her a two-fingered salute. “I’m going to go have a smoke…for the next hour or so…”

“I thought you were here for moral support,” James turned on his friend, pleading.

“I thought you were a useful asset,” Lily said but she did not sound upset about the idea of him leaving. She sat down at the bench and folded her arms looking up at James expectantly, who rounded on Sirius with one more beseeching glance.

“I’ll be back in an hour,” he told James, not unsympathetically. Then he was gone, lighting his cigarette as he left.

James sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He had barely had a second to mourn for his own lovely Saturday afternoon wasted on reading before being startled by the sound of Evans giving an unladylike snort. He turned around to see her watching him with a deeply amused expression on her face.

“These books are only for referencing Potter,” she told him. “I thought it would scare Black away. I know all of this anyway – I’m sure you do too, considering that you’re second in the year at Charms.”

“I’m just barely second,” he argued immediately, but was too confused to press the point further. Sitting down at the table next to her, James gave Lily a quick once over and tried valiantly not to get too distracted by the legs (which he inevitably failed at.)  “So all this was really just to scare Sirius away?”

“You’re too predictable, Potter. I already guessed you would drag him along, and we needed to get some work done. That’s not really possible when you and Black are being, well – you and Black.”

“Oh,” James said and Lily glanced away from her books at the same time that he turned to her. Their eyes met.

“Oh,” she repeated. There was a crease between her eyebrows. “I know what you’re like when it’s the two of you. I’m not in the mood. So I prepared.”

Lily turned away from him pointedly, flicking through some parchment that was covered with her own loopy handwriting. James squirmed uncomfortably at the thinly veiled reference to the end of last term and was, for once, lost for words.

It was the first time they had seen each other since their DADA owl and all the embarrassment that had followed -- and that was well over a month ago now. James had distracted himself with four man Quidditch games and Marauder’s hijinks that he had barely had any time to think about it since but…

He still felt uncomfortable and guilty whenever he thought about the way Lily had looked after Snape called her a Mudblood. Though James could never be called an insightful bloke, even he could acknowledge that a line had been crossed – and not just by Snape.

He had really and royally screwed up any chance of Evans viewing him as a friend, let alone in a romantic light. He was sure that it was only due to Lily’s near-perfect academic transcript and Head Girl aspirations that she had forced herself to meet with him at the Muggle park and try and be civil.

After a long moment of debating, James finally came to a conclusion. “Er, Evans,” he began and Lily looked up from her parchment to meet his stare. Now that it was just the two of them, he noticed that she looked a bit annoyed – though she wasn’t outright glaring, her lips were pressed together in a thin line and she didn’t look at all friendly or welcoming.

“Yes, Potter? Was there something you wanted to say?” She asked in a tone that suggested he should not say anything at all.

If James wasn’t so stubborn he probably would have covered up his half-hearted attempt at conversation by asking a question about the Charms assignment. Instead he bravely, and foolishly, continued: “About last…well, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about what happened at the end of last term. It wasn’t very…” Here he was lost for words. Kind? Considerate? _Humane_? “Nice,” he finished, lamely.

Lily cocked an eyebrow at the description. “Nice,” she repeated sarcastically. “I don’t suppose it was.”

“But you have to know I didn’t intend for Snape to –“

“Don’t Potter,” she suddenly interrupted, giving him a stern expression that could have rivalled McGonagall’s. “I came here to do Charms, not to talk about Se-Snape.”

Feeling a bit lost, and very uncomfortable, James gave a jerky shrug. He didn’t _want_ to talk about what had happened with her and Snape, and the portion of responsibility that he held, but there was a Moony-like voice in his head that was insisting he should press the point. For a long moment he was silent, but his desire to end the conversation eventually prevailed.

“Sure,” he said finally. “Can I have a look at those notes of yours?”

 

* * *

 

 

Moony was in the annoying habit of sitting James down for long, important talks about things like _maturity_ and _responsibility_. Which was why James had thought him to be the most appropriate person to talk to about the twinge of guilt that had not left him since he had departed Cokesworth – and Lily – a couple of days prior.

“You didn’t apologize?” His werewolf friend asked, after James had recounted their meeting to him.  

James focused his attention on the Quaffle he held in his hands. “Er – I did say the words I’m sorry.”

“Was it _sincere_?” Moony asked, stressing the last word. They were sitting in the field out the back of the Potter’s summerhouse. Sirius and Peter, who had been playing Quidditch with them before, had disappeared to the kitchens to try and pester some house elves for an early lunch, so Moony and Prongs were left by themselves to discuss the alien guilt that had been following him like a love-struck third year.

 “Yes. I mean – I think so,” James said unsurely. “She didn’t really want to talk about it.”

Moony sighed, his eyebrows drawn together over his pale blue eyes in consternation. “That doesn’t sound good. You’ll need to talk about this if you ever want to be friends with her.”

“I don’t want to be friends with her, I want to – “

“Yes I know what you want. You want to marry her, be the father of her children, whatever.” Remus dismissed the point with a wave of his hand. “Regardless, at some point, if you ever want that, or even friendship, you need to talk about this.”

“But she doesn’t want any of that and she doesn’t want to talk,” James repeated sounding defeated and forlorn. These were not two traits that he was familiar with and he did not wear them well – he glowered down at the Quaffle.  

Remus eyebrows lifted in shock. “I thought you were – well, trying to get over her?”

“I dunno,” James shrugged, and did not look away from the Quaffle. “I reckon I said that for Sirius’ benefit.”

“He doesn’t get to dictate who you go out with…or, er, fancy.”

Both boys paused aware of how uncomfortable the conversation was becoming. For sixteen-year-old boys a conversation about their feelings, though perhaps necessary, was not something either of them favoured.

“I mean what he says does makes sense,” Remus continued, albeit reluctantly, when James made no indication that he was going to say anything. “She’s not the only girl out there for you Prongs." 

James inwardly disagreed but didn’t say so in fear of Remus laughing, or worse, pitying him. He had been blessed and cursed to meet Evans so early on in his life and therefore had resigned himself to no other woman meeting his expectations.

“Right,” James said instead, suddenly wanting the conversation to be over. There was a heavy feeling in his stomach. “Should we play a game of Quidditch? I’ll go find Sirius, he’s probably trying to flirt with Mum again.”

Remus gave him a look that was equal parts relieved and disappointed. Relief at ending the conversation won out though and he jumped to his feet and clapped his hands together loudly. “Yes. Right, Quidditch. Come on then, Prongs.” He paused though, and gave James a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry James. It’ll sort itself out in the end anyway.”

James only gave a weak smile in return. The only way it would work itself out would be him getting over Evans and how was he supposed to manage that now he’d seen her in shorts? This bloody charms assignment was going to be the death of him.


End file.
